The problem
After a night at the police station the attendance note still has to be written, and it is the record for the legal aid claim and for any later question about the advice given at interview. If two fee earners cover 25 attendances a month and each note takes 40 minutes to type, that's 1,000 minutes, about 16.7 hours a month.
What the AI does
The fee earner dictates the attendance note into the Philips SpeechLive phone app as soon as they safely can, following the firm's police station template. Speech Recognition Legal, trained on legal terminology, turns the dictation into text with automatic punctuation, and SpeechLive lists AI summaries and next-step insights. The fee earner reads and corrects the text before it goes on the file. The note records the advice given; the software only types it.
A worked example
A criminal legal aid firm in Stoke-on-Trent has a solicitor and an accredited police station representative covering about 25 attendances a month between them. Both dictate notes on their phones within a few hours of leaving the station and correct the text before filing it.
Before
40 minutes to type each attendance note, often days later: about 16.7 hours a month
After
About 15 minutes to dictate and correct each note: about 6.3 hours a month
What it's worth
About $555£417€496A$801C$784 a month of fee-earner time, if that time is worth $53£40€48A$77C$75 an hour: 25 minutes saved on each of 25 notes is 625 minutes, about 10.4 hours. Speech Recognition Legal is from $43.09£32.40€38.56A$62.21C$60.91 per user a month excluding VAT, so about $86£65€77A$125C$122 for two people.
How to set it up
- Start the 14-day free trial with one fee earner and dictate against your existing police station attendance template.
- Dictate as soon as you safely can after leaving the station, covering disclosure, instructions, advice given and the outcome.
- Read and correct every transcript before it goes on the file, including names, times, custody record details and the advice given.
- Ask SpeechLive where UK dictations are hosted and for its data processing terms, and have your COLP approve its use on criminal matters.
- Enter any bail return date or first hearing in your case diary yourself and have it checked; don't rely on a summary to find it.
What goes wrong
- Speech recognition mishears names and numbers. A wrong time or a missing line of advice can matter at trial or in a claim audit, so check it all.
- Never dictate where others can hear. Client instructions are privileged and confidential.
- Criminal offense data has extra protection under UK GDPR. Confirm hosting, access controls and retention before using live matters.
- Pricing is per user, so each solicitor or representative who dictates needs their own license.